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Great Smoky Mountains - Tennessee
Descriptive:
The woodlands of the Smoky Mountains spread over 800 square miles along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. Early settlers named the range "smoky" because of a soft blue haze which veils the valleys and drapes the sides of mountain peaks.

Characterized by soft rolling hills, the landscape is inviting. In autimn, the leaves blaze with color as if brightly painted. The gently rolling summits of the Smokies are home to over 150 different species of trees -- more species than in all of Europe. Of special note, the tulip tree has been recorded to have grown to a trunk circumference of twenty-four feet in this verdant region.

On the summits of certain peaks is a very unique feature of the Park: sections of treeless grasslands, known as "balds." It is not entirely understood how these balds came to be about, especially when neighboring peaks at higher elevations are forested, but one explanation is that these were manmade clearings by the Cherokee Indians in order to watch the movements of a nearby and hostile tribe. Some of these are known as "heath balds" and are impassable, dense with thicket and bramble ten feet high.

Vegetation:
Eastern hemlock
Yellow buckeye
Silver bell
Cucumber tree
Northern red oak
Tulip tree.

Trillium
Violet
Dogwood
Serviceberry
Mountain laurel

Wildlife:
Black bear
White-tailed deer
Fox
Bobcats
Raccoons

Ruffed grouse
Turkey

Key locations:
Hen Wallow Falls. a beautiful 75-foot waterfall, is a mere four mile hike, roundtrip, from Cosby Campground.

Trails:
Appalachian Trail
Big Locust Nature Trail
Buckeye Nature Lake
Cades Cove Vista Nature Trail
Cosby Nature Trail
Junglebrook Nature Trail
Mids Branch Nature Trail
Pine-Oak Nature Trail
Smokemont Nature Trail
Spruce-Fir Nature Trail
Sugarlands Nature Trail